Once Upon a Clock-Tick
by ohlookanotherwriter
Summary: Fiyero just barely picked up on the quiver in the woman's voice. It was faint, but it was there. Fiyero knew that she had missed their friends just as much as he had. How were they to know that they would soon be reunited with them?
1. Chapter 1

It took a long time to adjust. A very, very, dreadfully long time. The hardest part was coming up with backgrounds for themselves. Surely no one would believe them if they told them they had come from a whole other world. In this world, they were just simple people from Canada.

People in this world were just as wary of Elphaba as the people of Oz had been. Fiyero, on the other hand, was so completely infatuated with this whole new world. His favorite part was the hockey- whatever that was- that played on the television- whatever THAT was- nearly 24/7. When the couple got to this new world, Elphaba was reluctant to admit that she was envious of her significant other who had turned back to his handsome, normal self. She, however, was stuck with the green skin she had always had. Perhaps it was because that was normal for her. Because the powers that be wanted her to be as miserable in this world as she was in the last. So be it then.

She lost her powers when she arrived here with Fiyero. For years, she tried and tried, but they never came back. It was one of the greatest losses Elphaba has ever suffered. That is... Besides losing her best friend. But Elphaba doesn't like thinking about that. That was in the past. In her old life. That life doesn't matter anymore. Live and let go, right? Right...

Elphaba works in at a veterinary office in Ontario now. She was fairly shocked to see that there were no Animals. She figured that they had just been too shy to talk to her but, like trying to find her powers again, she gave up when it proved to be pointless. Even with the lack of communication between her and the animals, she still loved working with them and helping them to get better.

A few months prior to when this story begins, a stranger dumped a young pitbull at the front door of the vet. The dog had a gash on its leg so severely infected that it needed to be amputated. Elphaba was horrified to have to perform the amputation but she knew it was what was best for the poor animal. When the man who dumped the dog at the vet never came back for it, it was put up for adoption. It was hopeless, however, no one wanted the dog with three legs. It was the day Fiyero came to bring Elphaba her lunch that she had forgotten on the kitchen counter that the dog was finally adopted. Fiyero fell in love with her instantaneously, dubbing her Bubbles.

Elphaba always knew Fiyero had a thing for lost causes. For broken things.

The Munchkin- ahem _Canadian- _had to admit, she loved Bubbles. The black pitbull was a perfect addition to their little family. She made their apartment feel a little more like home. No Kiamo Ko or room 22, that's for certain, but still home.

"Fae?" Fiyero muttered one morning as they laid in bed with slivers of light falling over them through the drawn blinds. They could hear Bubbles snoring on the ground beside their bed. Fiyero slid an arm around the verdant woman's bare waist and pulled her closer to him. Elphaba smirked as she felt a calloused hand dance across her stomach; the feel of her soft skin always made Fiyero feel content with everything in the world. This one or Oz.

"Yes, Yero?"

"I miss Oz." His voice rang of defeat. For the last five years, the couple somehow successfully avoided the topic of Oz.

"I know.".

"I miss our friends, Elphaba." Fiyero let out a sigh. He nuzzled his head into Elphaba's hair and took in a breath, holding back tears he had been keeping at bay for years. He knew Elphaba had been keeping them in too. She's just been better at hiding it. She's always been good at hiding her emotions.

"I know."

Fiyero just barely picked up on the quiver in the woman's voice. It was faint, but it was there. Fiyero knew that she had missed them just as much as he had.

How were they to know that they would soon be reunited with them?


	2. Chapter 2

In every life there are precious things to behold. In some lives it's materialistic things and in others people hold near and dear sentiment. It's different everywhere, in every world and in each region of those worlds, it all varies. In every life, however, there is one thing that everyone holds onto and that is their memories.

Elphaba remembers very specifically when her pesky little brother, Shell, was approaching the age of attending his first years of school. The boy was absolutely hopeless at learning, though. No private tutor in all of Quadling Country was able to help him learn his letters. Frexpar had nearly given up on him. He had one perfect child, dear Nessarose, and that was all he needed. For all he cared the dumb boy and the green girl could live in the swamps of Qhoyre for the remainder of their days. Elphaba wasn't that quick to give up on her little brother, though.

Quadling Country didn't have many libraries. The closest one to where the Thropps resided was a two hour trek away through muddy marshes and swarms of mosquitos and various other disgusting bugs that for some reason Shell was completely enamored with. Elphaba had to tell him multiple times to "put that beetle back in the mud, Shell!"

Regardless of how much of a pain her little brother could be, the weeks Elphaba spent teaching Shell his letters, numbers, shapes, and numerous other topics were probably her favorite memories of her quality time with the boy. Shell had a unique mind, that was for certain, and Elphaba could see why some of the others had a difficult time making any sort of breakthrough with him. It was difficult to keep him on track and like every other five-year-old, he got very distracted very easily. Elphaba was able to bribe the boy with his favorite candies and extra playtime with the toys she had learned to keep with her for when Shell got exceedingly antsy.

Shell had to be in his late twenties by now. Elphaba had missed everything.

Fiyero had memories of going on hunting trips with his father in The Greater Kells. Whenever he shot a deer directly in the eye, making it a clean kill, his father always slapped him on the back and said "Atta boy, son. That will make a great dinner tonight!"

These hunting trips would span over the course of a few weeks and the father/son duo took them every few months or so. At the end of each trip, the two would hold a contest as they passed by the toxic Kellswater. Whoever dared get the closest to it won. The loser had to clean the other's boots in the time between then and their next hunting trip. On the last trip the two took together, only a few weeks before the Wicked Witch of the West started stirring up mayhem again and the witch and him were whisked away to this new world, Fiyero had won.

Fiyero's mother, may she rest in peace, would teach the young Arjiki prince to cook and clean and, on occasion, sew. Sewing for Fiyero had alway been a lost cause. It's not that he had a bad attention span such as Shell had, he was just purely awful at it. He could never get the damn stitching right.

There was a day at Suicide Canal back at Shiz where the group of friends, Elphaba, Fiyero, Glinda, Boq, and Nessa, were all gathered under their usual tree. Glinda had her head propped on Fiyero's shoulder as they leaned against the trunk of the old weeping willow, Elphaba was trying to indulge the group in a conversation of what they recently learned about The Great Drought in Oz, and Boq picked at the grass as he leaned up against Nessa's wheelchair while she put little braids into his hair. The boy looked like a damn fool when she was done with him.

There wasn't anything particularly special about that day. In fact, the group had many days identical to it. These, however, were a few of Fiyero and Elphaba's most cherished memories. The only thing the two feared about growing old was losing these memories at the hands of dementia or just simply old age. They were all they had left of Oz. Of their friends.

And they'd be damned if they were ever to lose them.

* * *

Elphaba dampened a rag with her oils and began her morning routine of getting ready for work. The smell of coffee and burnt eggs wafted around the couple's apartment. Elphaba didn't care if Fiyero burnt the eggs, she doesn't eat them anyway, but she felt the need to remind him-

"Yero, do not start another fire!"

She heard an overexaggerated scoff coming from the kitchen preceding Fiyero babbling about how he was a master chef just like some man named Gordon Ramsay.

Elphaba rushed out of the bathroom as soon as she heard plates shattering against the kitchen floor.

If he's not causing fires, he's breaking everything, Elphaba thought as she came upon the mess Chef Tigulaar had made. Ceramic littered the linoleum floor while a sheepish Fiyero stood startled and blushing over the mess. He scrambled to the floor and began using his hands to sweep the shards of the deceased plate into one pile, which he promptly cut himself on. Elphaba, ever the capable one, clucked her tongue against the roof of her mouth and retrieved the broom and dustpan from the cleaning closet. She told Fiyero to wash the cuts on his hands while she cleaned up the mess.

"I swear, you're worse than some of the animals that come into the office." Bubbles hobbled to her side as she crouched down to sweep the shards into the dustpan and began to lick her face. She gently nudged the pitbull away and discarded the broken plate into the trash bin.

"Your oatmeal, Miss Elphaba." Fiyero announced, handing her a ceramic bowl with his non-bloodied hand.

"Thank you, Master Fiyero."

Fiyero eventually stemmed the blood coming from his hand and joined Elphaba at the round dining table. Elphaba informed him that she was working two shifts and wouldn't be home for dinner.

"I'll pack you an extra sandwhich then." Fiyero said. "I might ask some of the guys from my hockey team to come over and watch the game today. Is that okay with? I promise I'll clean up whatever mess we make."

"As long as you clean up, yes." The green woman noticed that he was still in his pajamas. "You don't have work today?"

"No," Fiyero huffed. "Johnson canceled on my again. I swear to Oz, if he does it again I'm going to tell him I can't be his trainer anymore. You hire a personal trainer so that they can help you get fit, not so you can cancel on them every week. I could have booked someone else but no, now it's too late."

The conversation went on like this for several more minutes until Elphaba herself had to leave for work, where no one could cancel on _her. _She gave the Vinkan a peck on the cheek and was out the door.

She wasn't ten steps out of the apartment building when a stranger in a hat and trenchcoat approached her. He wasn't very tall; saying he was just a bit over five feet sounded like it may have been pushing it. He kept his hands deep in his pockets and stood very rigid as if someone had control over his body.

"Are you missing something, ma'am?" The man asked in a croaky, defeated voice, keeping his gaze to the ground. At least, that's where Elphaba assumed his gaze was for the brim of his hat was keeping his eyes from sight.

"N-no. No, I'm not." Elphaba gave the man a quizzical look and began to walk towards her car. She grabbed her keys from her coat pocket, holding them tightly fearing that the man might try and attack her. Surely she could fight him off, though.

"You are a beautiful creature, aren't you? So green, so..." There was a long pause before he resumed. "So emerald."

This made Elphaba freeze up. She stayed in place, only turning her head around just enough to get a glimpse of the man speaking to her. One if his hands was out of his pocket and was stroking at a tuft of white hair on his chin. He seemed a little bit more loose.

Something about the man's essence seemed so familiar to Elphaba but she couldn't quite put her finger on it. She allotted herself a few more seconds to inspect him before she walked away.


	3. Chapter 3

Things in Oz weren't good. For five years, they hadn't been good at all. Anarchy had risen; Ozians were against Ozians, the rebels against loyal Oz.

Glinda the Good had joined the rebels.

Against Elphaba's wishes, she spoke out and told all of Oz of how the Wicked Witch of the West was truly good, more good than she herself had ever been. She told them all how the Wicked Witch— how Elphaba— had only ever meant to do what was best for Oz in an attempt to make peace between the Ozians and Animals. Glinda spoke out until her voice was hoarse. She spoke for Elphaba, for the Animals, and she spoke for those of Oz who didn't have a voice.

She was forcibly dismissed as the ruler of Oz and was promptly thrown out of her palace in the Emerald City, soon to be replaced by the old Madame Morrible whom the Gale Force foolishly released from captivity. Everyone in the Emerald City despised the Good Witch of the North and drove her out of the city.

Morrible soon realized that letting the witch loose wasn't the best decision; the new ruler couldn't let the woman spread propaganda. Glinda knew too much about the inner workings of Oz's capitol. She knew all the plans and all the secrets.

Morrible put out a bounty for Glinda's head on a stick.

It was in Munchkinland of all places where Glinda found refuge from the Gale Force. It was Shell Thropp, the new governor of the region, who heard her out and took her side. The Munchkins were fully prepared to turn Glinda in. It was due to him that Munchkinland stood with her and fought against the Emerald City. Soon, they were joined by the Vinkus and Quadling Country, Quadling Country being a region of Oz which was never known to fight against anything and just take the abuse that was dealt at them. It was Gillikin and Emerald City against the rest of Oz and they were fighting back with all they had.

It was all out war. Glinda knew this wasn't what Elphaba had wanted for Oz. Elphaba would have wanted a peaceful meeting with little confrontation and mature conversation until an agreement was made. The witch's movement needed more than that, though. The movement needed force and violence. As much as Glinda regretted it, the war was a necessity. It was more than just Animal rights; the Emerald City was toxic to Oz and it needed to be taken down.

At first, Glinda had just been assisting Shell in giving orders and developing strategies as she had in the Emerald City, but she soon met the battlefield. She proved to be a powerful witch and a valuable fighter which proved to be much to Shell's pleasure.

It was odd, Glinda thought, to not only have met the boy Elphaba had rarely ever mentioned, but to fight beside him. He was an amazing leader and a smart man, just as the green woman she once knew had been. As time went on, she noticed an abundance of qualities that he and Elphaba had shared. Headstrong, determined, and intelligent to name a few. Just being around the man made Glinda miss her old friend more and more.

It was the hot day of Summersend when the duo were cornered in the palace of Emerald City by Gale Forcers with their impending death or, even worse, capture hanging over their heads.

The great capitol city was in shambles, buildings burned and bullets were buried in countless bodies littering the streets. The citizens of Emerald City holed themselves away in their extravagant houses and hid their children in the bathtubs and closets.

Quadlings and Vinkans were assigned to fighting off the Gale Forcers while Munchkins stormed the castle. Shell and Glinda were to split away from the group to find Morrible while the rest were to find the strategy room and burn everything they could get their hands on.

No one knew what happened to the two that day. The munchkins had escaped, but Shell and Glinda never came out of the palace. A rescue team was formed to retrieve their leaders but the survivors reported that there was not a trace of them to be found.

* * *

In her time in Canada Elphaba had realized one thing; the people there were either extremely nice or extremely creepy. However, there were the rare few that were extremely nice which made them extremely creepy. The man in the trench coat, however, was just straight up extremely creepy.

Elphaba did her best to pay the man no mind but she found her thoughts wondering to him as the day went on. There was something eerily familiar about him. As much as she tried to figure it out, she couldn't quite place her finger on it. When she arrived at work, Elphaba decided to just push it to the back of her mind as best as she could.

Elphaba sent off her last patient of the day. The poor Scottish terrier was finally able to get the cast it had had on for over a month off. As soon as the cast was off, the dog was awkwardly jumping around in joy on Elphaba and his owner.

"It will take him a little while, but he will be able to start walking the way he used to." Elphaba told the owner, Maureen, before she left. "It may look like he's limping slightly but don't worry, that's natural. He'll be fine. If you have any questions or concerns, say perhaps you think the leg didn't heal quite right, don't hesitate to call my office."

"Thank you so much Ms. Thropp." The woman ran her hand through her curly brunette hair and bit her lip. She turned halfway around as if to leave but faced the veterinarian once again before she took a step. "I do have a question for you. Not regarding little Lucas here."

"No, I didn't eat grass as a child." Elphaba quipped as she set down her clipboard on the cold metallic inspection table. She felt bad for all the animals that had to sit on that thing.

Maureen giggled and lightly slapped Elphaba's shoulder. "No, silly that wasn't what I was going to ask. The short blonde girl out in the office that's been asking the lady at the front desk for you for nearly twenty minutes, is she your girlfriend or something? She looks pretty determined to see you. She looked pretty dirty though."

"Short blonde girl?" Elphaba's eyes widened in disbelief. She shoved passed aureen, nearly tripping over the newly healed Lucas as she rushed to the waiting area.

Sure enough, leaning against the front desk in a tattered ensemble (it looked very similar to what the military in Munchkinland wore, Elphaba noted) and hands running through her blonde locks in distress was Glinda Upland…


	4. Chapter 4

A very loud gasp escaped the blonde as her head shot up at the sound of Elphaba barreling into the waiting room. Anna, the lady who was supposed to be tending the front desk was nowhere in sight. She had probably gone home for the night considering it was now after hours.

Glinda stared wide-eyed at the green woman and was frozen in place. In her clenched fist was a crumpled, yellowing piece of parchment about a quarter of the size of an average sheet of paper. The hand holding the parchment was clutched to her chest as the other covered her chapped-lipped mouth which held the form of an "O" since the moment she saw Elphaba. Elphaba felt tears pricking at her eyes but she refused to let them fall; more so out of pride than the fact that they would leave burns on her skin.

The sound of clicking heals on linoleum grabbed both of their attentions. Maureen walked up behind Elphaba with Lucas limping behind her. She placed a hand on her shoulder in a way that was meant to be comforting. Maureen wasn't sure what reason there was to comfort Elphaba, but she felt the need to anyway.

"Maureen, I don't mean to rush you out," Elphaba started slowly, planning her words carefully. "But Glinda and I have a lot to talk about."

The brunette nodded her head and scooted out the double doors with Lucas in tow. As soon as the door closed behind her, Elphaba ran to Glinda and took her in her arms.

"Sweet Oz, Glinda, how did you get here?" Elphaba gasped, clutching a reluctant and somewhat smelly Glinda close to her. It only lasted a few more seconds before the blonde shoved her away and put herself in a fighting stance.

"Who are you, artichoke?" She shouted. In the rush to get away from Elphaba, Glinda had dropped the parchment onto the ground. Elphaba chuckled and bent over to pick it up. As soon as she righted herself, Glinda darted forward and grabbed the parchment from her.

"Glinda, the vegetable jokes were humorous in university but, come on, we're adults now. This is honestly how you're going to greet me after five years?"

There was a hardness in Glinda's turquoise eyes that Elphaba had never seen before. "Glinda…" Elphaba's voice was soft now with pain ringing through it. "Glinda, it's me, Elphaba. Remember? We were best friends."

Glinda's stance loosened a little but she was still in a position to fight if need be. Her eyes remained hard and cold as she handed the parchment to the Elphaba and quickly retreated her hand. "So then I suppose this is my letter and you're the 'Elphaba' I was writing to. I found that in my boot. I guess it's a memento or something."

The parchment showed signs of being folded numerous times. There was water stains making the ink run that Elphaba could only assume were Glinda's tears all over it. The writing was distinctly Glinda's, small and loopy. The only difference from the blonde's handwriting from their Shiz days and this was that there were no hearts dotting the "I"s.

Elphaba finally got to reading the letter.

_Dearest Elphaba, _

_It's been one year exactly since the melting. It's barbaric how people in the EC are celebrating it. If only they knew, Elphaba… If only they knew. _

_Hah. Do you remember the discussion we had in our dorm room before we were friends? The one about the existence of souls and how you said you doubted the fact that you even had one? Well I want you to know that you in fact did— _do—_ have a soul and I've learned recently that it's the only truly good soul in this world. I intend on letting everyone know that._

_Soon. _

_I know it's not what you wanted, but it's what needs to be done. I can't bear to see these festivities go on any longer. It hurts to see the demise of such a great woman being celebrated so maliciously._

_Wherever you are, Elphie, dead or alive, I hope you're happy._

_You know, I've always had the sneaking suspicion that you were still alive somewhere. That this was all just a trick. I guess that's why I'm writing this letter, in hopes that it will one day find you. I hope it will. I hope _I _will._

_With all my heart,_

_Glinda_

"What's 'the melting?'" Glinda asked when she suspected Elphaba was done reading the letter. Her body was now fully relaxed as if Elphaba reading the last words was some sort of test to see if she was to be trusted by the blonde.

Elphaba didn't know how to comprehend anything that was going on. Everything stopped making sense to her as soon as Glinda let out that first gasp when she initially saw her. "You don't remember me, do you?" Elphaba winced at the sound of her voice cracking. For years, she fantasized about her reunion with Glinda and not in a single one of her daydreams did she consider this a possibility.

Glinda inched closer to Elphaba. Was it dirt or ash that blackened parts of Glinda's face? Was it a sword or a hand that tore the Munchkinland military garb she was donning? Where did she even get Munchkinland military uniform?

"I don't remember anything." Glinda's eyes were downcast. Her hands were folded in front of her; she stood like a child waiting to get yelled at by her parents for breaking the antique vase.

Elphaba let out a shaky breath. She brought her hand to her mouth and began chewing on her nails, her opposite arm covering her stomach as if she were nauseous. The memory of the man in the trench coat chose that moment to come back to her.

_"Are you missing something, ma'am?"_

The memory of that morning's occurrence along with the current events brought a chill to Elphaba's spine. Her breathing started getting labored and her hands start shaking violently. She leaned against the front desk to support herself for she would have surely fallen over if she hadn't.

"You're very green."

"Thank you, I realize that!" Elphaba shouted, startling the blonde, still hunched over the desk.

"I'm sorry!" Glinda shouted back, looking more like a scared little girl than the fighter who was fully prepared to knock Elphaba out just minutes prior. Elphaba felt a hand on her back that began to rub soothing circles as Glinda spoke on. "It's just that you're the only person that I seem to know and I've been looking for you for four days now and I just didn't expect you to be so… verdant."

"Glinda, how did you even know where to find me?"

Glinda began to recount the tale of how she knew where Elphaba would be. There was a man, an old man, in a trench coat who asked her if she was missing something. She told the man that she wasn't sure if she was missing anything, but she was looking for something, someone, if he could help her with it. She wasn't sure, though, if she was looking for a Glinda or an Elphaba. Glinda told the man the two possible names of the woman she was looking for and he pointed her in the direction of the local animal hospital.

"Can you please help me, Elphaba? I have no idea who I am or who you are or anything! I don't know what's going on. Please…" Her voice was sincere.

"Come with me." Elphaba commanded, finally collecting herself. Her breath was still uneven but she was at least able to support herself now.

After locking up the office, Elphaba drove Glinda to her apartment building. There was barely any conversation as the two sat in the car. When they arrived at the apartment, Elphaba told the blonde to wait in the hallway while she talked to Fiyero; she would explain who he was later.

Mark and Roger frequented the gym Fiyero worked at. Roger more so than Mark. It was through hockey that the three became friends; Mark and Roger were sweaty and huddled up around a television that had been playing that days game when Fiyero came up behind them to join in. He startled them both when he began shouting at number 14 for not making the goal when he had the perfect chance to. Imbecile.

It didn't take very long after that for the two men to befriend Fiyero. After that, the three of them would meet up at sports bars and occasionally Elphaba would tag along if Fiyero had pouted enough that night. Mark and Roger were initially taken aback by the woman's verdigris but they soon grew used to it. Roger even went as far as to hitting on her before Fiyero got him to back off.

As expected, the three men sat in the living room yelling at the TV. Elphaba didn't bother to question and didn't even want to know how some of the furniture became overturned or how it seemed an entire bag of Cheetos managed to get ground up into the carpet.

She grabbed the remote off the coffee table and clicked the power button. Only then did the men acknowledge the woman's presence and began to shout at her to turn it back on.

"Mark, Roger, I need you both to leave. There's something very important I need to discuss with Fiyero."

"Come on, there's only fifteen minutes left!" Roger protested, trying to get the remote back from Elphaba who snatched it away as soon as he made a move.

"Fiyero, if you don't make them leave right now, you're sleeping in that Cheeto dust." She pointed to the orange stains all over the carpet.

"Come on guys, go home, we're losing anyway."

A glare from Elphaba prevented any further protests and the two men made their goodbyes and departed from the apartment. Elphaba heard Roger wolf whistle at, she assumed, Glinda as he closed the door behind him and rolled her eyes.

"Keep walking!" She shouted at the door. She turned to face Fiyero who had a look of concern etched across his face. Sitting him down, she went over the day's events with him as he stared at her in disbelief.

"That's not funny, Elphaba. I know you're not that great at making joke that are actually funny, but I know that you know that that's not funny." Fiyero sputtered.

Fiyero, you're so beautiful but so stupid, Elphaba thought with a sigh. "You don't believe me?"

"No, I don't believe you at all, actually."

Elphaba stood up and walked to the door. She placed one hand on the doorknob and the other flat on the wooden surface. She took a deep breath and looked over her shoulder at Fiyero who had stood up and crossed his arms over his chest, waiting for her to open the door. Maybe she was crazy and she had just imagined all of this. Maybe all the years she had spent in this world finally drove her to madness and she had been hallucinating the entire occurrence with the old man and Glinda.

She took another deep breath and twisted the doorknob, pulling the slab of wood open. Standing in front of the threshold was Glinda, arms crossed and foot tapping rapidly.

There was a moment of silence as Elphaba looked expectantly at Fiyero, who stood in shock. His arms slowly came out of their crossed position and went down to his sides. A goofy smile crossed his face before he shouted,

"Oh, Lurline!"

Glinda yelped as Fiyero ran towards her and squeezed her. He lifted her off the ground and spun her around once before putting her back down. Elphaba gestured for the two to come back into the apartment and she shut the door behind them. There were tears streaming freely from Fiyero's eyes as he chuckled, more in shock than in humor, at the sight of his old friend.

"Glinda! How did you get here from Oz? _We're _not even sure how we got here!" Fiyero had both of Glinda's forearms in his grip. The poor girl looked scared and confused.

"Wh-what's Oz?" Glinda looked between the two of them.

Elphaba gripped Glinda's shoulder, swatting Fiyero's hands away, and walked her to the couch. She picked up an empty chips bag and placed it on the coffee table in disgust. Sitting down, she patted the seat next to her which Glinda promptly took. Fiyero took a seat in the arm chair. It hadn't crossed Elphaba's mind that she wouldn't remember where she came from. It probably should have, though, she didn't even remember her own name.

"Glinda, Oz is where we're from." Fiyero began explaining. "It's this whole other world. We came here five years ago, Elphaba and I, after the Dorothy girl 'melted' Elphaba. Everyone in Oz thinks Elphaba is dead. Me as well."

"Why?" Glinda asked.

"Bec—"

"Wait," Elphaba intervened. "It's late. Maybe we should let Glinda wash up, she's filthy— don't look at me that way, it's true, you smell horrendous— and get some rest. I'm sure she's had it rough for the past few days."

They all agreed.

Glinda didn't sleep well that night. Elphaba and Fiyero insisted she take their bed for the night but she refused and resided to the couch. Fiyero did his best to clean up the living room while she was in the shower but the smell of alcohol still lingered in the room. It was because she could hear Elphaba and Fiyero arguing in their room. She sat quietly and tried to make her breathing as silent as possible as she listened to the conversation.

"How do we know that's even really Glinda?"

"What do you mean? It's obviously Glinda, just look at her!"

"But how do we know it's not just something Morrible or someone created to come and kill us!"

"Fae, you're just paranoid."

"Then how do you explain the fact that she doesn't remember anything?"

Glinda couldn't hear anything after that. Whether that was the end of the conversation or they began speaking in whispers, she couldn't tell. She decided to try and give herself to sleep. The couch was much more comfortable than the park benches she had been sleeping on for the past few nights.


End file.
